Random Rants - Isildur1, Doyle, and the UIGEA

Today, I just feel like randomly ranting and commenting on some things.

The Isildur1 Saga:

Unlike the "sparkling vampires" saga, the Isildur1 saga is at least entertaining. The all-time record for largest pots played online has been broken multiple times and Isildur1 has been up and down more than a hooker on Fremont Street.

For now, I am just considering this a nice blip in the online poker world. From what I have watched of his play, his play is really nothing spectacular. He appears to be on a good run and it remains to see if he can sustain it. Personally, I'm going to lean against him sustaining it as he has been given fits by Ivey and Antonius. (Yes, I realize he took a $1 Million pot off Ivey. This is after Ivey took over a $1 Million off him a couple of nights ago.)

Doyle's Admits That He May Need to Drop Limits

Doyle Brunson in a recent blog admitted that he might have a hard time dropping in limits, but that that change may come if he does not win in 2010. Brunson commented on a combination of age and the nature of today's game as the reason's behind this thinking.

Personally, I would applaud him if he would actually make the move down to smaller stakes. The only caveat is that there will be many waiting to take their shots since Doyle will be playing smaller. Odds are Doyle will find a way to keep an advantage at the lower limits. Then again, the last time Doyle talked about slowing down his play, he won a WPT title. Who knows, this may be motivation for him to step up his game. Even if he doesn't, I still would put Doyle above 75% of anyone out there today.

Tournament Structures

A lot of players talk about tournaments structures, and if you follow Twitter at all, you know Allen Kessler is a big stickler for structures. I understand that players want great structures, but what befuddles me is when a person knows the structure, they go out to play the event, and the complain about the structure.

If you don't like the structure of an event, don't play it. I covered a certain tournament a while back where the players complained about the structure and complained all the way to the final table. They even convinced the tournament director to add a level. The funny thing is, by the time they got to that level, the players that were complaining were knocked out.

UIGEA Deadline Looms

December 1st is approaching and the UIGEA enforcement will commence. I am not even going to say it is scheduled to commence as I fully believe that it will get there. There will be no delays. A "Hail Mary" bill will not be signed in time to stop the banks.

I do like HR 2267, the bill that creates a full licensing and regulatory framework for online gambling and poker. This is what I have been a proponent of since the UIGEA was drafted, but I don't see it coming to fruition anytime soon.

The soonest you really should start looking at seeing something truly positive come out of this is 2011. Face reality poker players, Congress does not give a shit about us. They want to bastardize health care in our country. After they get past that, Democrats will be focusing on one thing, keeping power in Congress during the Midterm Elections. After that is said and done, maybe we will get somewhere. Until then, you better figure out some other way to get your online accounts funded that does not involve our banking system.

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